denise

Save Me a Seat

2018, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites /

From the 2016 Cybils shortlist, we listened to Save Me a Seat on audio. It’s a short book, told from the perspectives of two very different boys — one who grew up in New Jersey, and another who grew up in Bangalore and both find themselves outcasts at Albert Einstein Elementary. One who is very smart (an IQ of 135! lol) and one who has an auditory processing disability so people often assume he is not smart.

On audio, having two separate voices tell each boy’s story was a nice touch. An even nicer touch was the glossary in the back of the book. You’d think, being white Americans that you are (or I am), that there would simply be a glossary of Ravi’s “unfamiliar” Indian words. But nope, Joe’s “unfamiliar” words are there, too.

Kids who are struggling with bullying or self-esteem should read this. Or, anyone who needs a refresher in why there’s more to a person than meets the eye or a reminder that giving up is not an option should this one.

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Highly Illogical Behavior

2018, Books in Bed, Fiction, Young Adult /

Huh. I thought Highly Illogical Behavior was a Cybil. It’s not. It’s very Cybil-like. The writing is good. The characters, I really liked (though Lisa made me angry from the first page.)

Anxiety + Severe Panic Attacks + Some OCD = Agoraphobia and Solomon hasn’t left his house in more than three years. There are a whole lot of problems with this book but it didn’t matter. I liked the characters enough to overlook everything else, (even all of the Star Wars Next Generation chatter), and ended up enjoying the book a lot.

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Full of Beans

2018, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction /

I really loved Full of Beans. It’s a Cybil from last year that explains how Key West went from being a dead, bankrupt town during the depression to a must visit tourist destination — and a 10 (?) year old boy tells the story. It event touches on the leper colony that was in Key West at the time, and handles it beautifully.

(TW was not quite as thrilled with the book as I was. I don’t know what her problem is, except that she doesn’t like children’s fiction. Speaking of which, I think it’s categorized as middle grade fiction but it feels pretty young, to me. So better for younger good readers or older reluctant readers.)

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In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse

1 Comment / 2018, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge /

Another Cybil from last year, In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse was good. It read younger than I expected it to, so if you have struggling readers – this would work for them.

I liked the relationship between Jimmy and his grandfather and the journey they took together. I wish there’d been more connecting the dots between Jimmy’s situation at school before the journey and his growth after the journey but that would have made the book more complex and I think the author wanted to keep it an easy read.

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Rebel of the Sands

2018, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

I thought Rebel of the Sands was a Cybil. Turns out, it isn’t. If I’d known that, I probably wouldn’t have read it. Not that I didn’t enjoy it — it was fine. The problem was that I didn’t really like Amani until close to the end. I also found it a little repetitive in places — the book needed a better/different editor, I think.

This is the first book in a series, I doubt I’ll read the next one.

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The Last of August

2018, Books in Bed, Fiction, Young Adult /

I did not like The Last of August anywhere near as much as I liked A Study in Charlotte. It didn’t even feel like the normal book two set up for book three, well part of it did but not enough of it. I just didn’t like either Charlotte OR Jamie in this book and I definitely didn’t like them together. I preferred the brief bits with Jamie’s father and Charlotte’s uncle — maybe they need a series of their own, instead. I’m going to give the next book a chance but if I don’t love it and there’s a fourth, I’m not going to bother.

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The Wrong Dead Guy

2018, Books in Bed, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

Speaking of coincidences (yesterday’s book post) I had just been thinking that I need to see how far behind I am on the Sandman Slim books when TW came home from the library with a book by Richard Kadrey. It wasn’t a Sandman Slim book – but still, what a coincidence! She also said that it didn’t seem to be part of another series or if it was maybe it was the first book.

TW read it first and chuckled her way through much of The Wrong Dead Guy. I took that as a good sign but when I started reading it, I thought for sure it was not the first book in a series but definitely part of a series. We were given an awful lot of backstory types of info but not enough backstory for a stand alone book full of weird random characters that have some connection that was murky, at best. I stopped reading and asked her if she was SURE it wasn’t part of a series. She said she didn’t think so and since I was enjoying it and feeling too lazy to look for myself, I just kept reading.

Almost half-way through the book, I couldn’t take it any more because this REALLY felt like a book in a series and I was beginning to get annoyed by that. Sure enough, it’s the sequel to The Everything Box, which I have not read. I was annoyed – I hate not reading the first book. But, I was so far into it by then that it didn’t make a lot of sense to stop reading it until I can get the first book, so I just carried on.

It was very amusing, as you’d expect if you have read Kadrey’s other books. I’m looking forward to backtracking and reading The Everything Box – that’s going to clear up a lot of questions for me, I’m sure. (I’m also never going to make the mistake of NOT checking on a book if it feels like part of a series again!)

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